Pictograph Cave State Park, Billings

Pictograph Cave State Park is home to naturally eroded marine sandstone. These rock shelters were used by native people who created rock art painted up to 2,145 years ago and perhaps earlier. In our 'green' designed Visitor's Center, you can learn about artifacts left behind for over 4,500 years. Located just five miles southeast of Billings, this 23 acre park features walking trails, picnic grounds and interpretive trail stations; everything you need for a fun and educational get away!

This unique place is a site of spirit writing and believed to be used by different native tribes for ceremonial and vision quest purposes. For the entire time people have painted on the walls of this cave, rain water and snow-melt have leached through the sandstone depositing soluble minerals on the cave wall and images. Then, when heavy rains or snowmelt occur, the water saturates the sandstone and that veil of minerals will lift and the images beneath become more visible. While on a dry day you may see 10-15 pictographs, on very wet ones, 30-40 images seem to appear directly from the rock. The Crow people say these images are drawn by the spirits, and whichever ones you see are meant to give you a personal message.

Pictograph Cave State Park is just one of the many highlights you can arrange to see using our , online itinerary creator Edition.
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